Year of the Spark: March 18
by Sparky Army
Summary: She'd done the one thing she'd always told herself she wouldn't. The Year of the Spark continues!


_We, the Sparky Army, decree 2008 to be the Year of the Spark. We pledge to post a new sparky story or chapter of a sparky story every day from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Though the Powers That Be have removed Elizabeth Weir from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis, we feel that she remains an integral part of the show, and that the relationship between her and John Sheppard is too obvious to be ignored. We hope that you and anyone might happen to read these works, agree. _

_And if that isn't official enough for you, we don't know what is. Seriously, guys, we're just trying to have some fun--and show TPTB that Sparky is the way to go. So sit back and enjoy the 366 stories coming your way!_

Note from the Author (Hannah554) – This is actually one of the first stories I wrote for YotS but I just never got around to posting it. So here it is now and I hope you enjoy it. 

* * *

**Changes**

_By Hannah554 _

It was entirely unlike her, a very sudden and complete turn around in her character, the exact opposite of very thought process she had gone through since she'd been old enough to think coherently and for some unfathomable reason, she wasn't doing anything to reverse it.

She'd known that her time on Atlantis had changed her, that the influence of the events and people around her had left her a different person from the one who had stepped through the gate three years ago. She was no longer naive enough to believe that talking could solve every problem, she'd seen and experienced too much to hold on to that ideal, she wasn't entirely sure she had a hundred percent believed it before. She hadn't really realised just how much she had changed until she'd done the one thing she had told herself she wouldn't, given into the one urge that, from year 1, she had forbidden herself from even thinking about. 

She'd slept with John Sheppard... repeatedly. 

The first time had just happened, really. She'd needed a report from him (it would be a miracle if he ever did his paperwork on time) and he hadn't been answering the radio. She'd gone to his room looking for him and had found him in a towel. He'd only just got out of the shower and he'd run his hand through his hair as he tried to remember where he'd left the report. It was probably best if she didn't think about the rest of what happened whilst she was sitting in her office. 

She'd spent the following day trying to hide in her room whilst being constantly dragged out to attend to one thing or another. John had not been so inclined, he'd spent the whole day trying to talk to her and she had to give him credit for not giving up after the amount of times she'd blown him off or turned and headed for the nearest transporter at the mere sight of him. Unfortunately she had nowhere to hide when he followed her to her room that night and refused to leave until they'd talked about it and talked they had... for all of two minutes...before she slept with him again. 

Since then she'd spent more nights with him than without, in fact in the last month the only times she hadn't slept with him was when he was off world. She refused to think about why.

It wasn't lost on her that John was probably one of the biggest factors in the way she had changed. He'd made her see that sometimes force really was the only option, he'd helped her figure out how to be a leader and she was well aware that she had done the same for him. They balanced each other out in a way she had never imagined when she'd insisted that he be on her expedition. 

And despite the changes she had always seen in herself, this latest one was so sudden and unexpected that she hadn't really been prepared for it. Throwing caution to the wind, it was a prospect she had never even considered before. The sound of the gate dialling interrupted her thoughts and she looked at her watch to realise the subject of her thoughts was about to return from his four day stay with allies and damn herself, she'd missed him.

She stood up and left her office, heading through to the control room as the brilliant blue event horizon lit up the gate room beneath them. 

"Receiving Colonel Sheppard's IDC," Chuck informed her and she nodded her head and ordered the shield lowering as she left the control room and made her way to the active gate. Rodney stepped through first complaining about bratty kids with Ronon and Teyla right behind him.

"Keep complaining McKay," Ronon said threateningly.

"It wasn't you that had a gang of finger painting, prank pulling kids following you around for four days," Rodney sniped and Ronon levelled him with a warning glare as John finally stepped through.

"Maybe if you hadn't told them they were less intelligent than you, they wouldn't have felt the need to torture you," Ronon said exasperatedly. 

"It wasn't an insult, it was a fact," Rodney defended himself in annoyance.

"Alright you two; take it somewhere else," John instructed them, the two men left still bickering and Teyla followed them, probably to keep Ronon from killing the scientist.

"Hey," John said, drawing her attention away from where she could still hear the slightly raised voices of his team mates. 

"Hey, how'd it go?" she asked him, resisting the urge to jump him then and there.

"Ah, you know, four day celebrations lose their appeal after the first day," he told her with a shrug "They throw a mean party though, all in honour of their alliance with us."

"Well you should go check in with Carson," she stated and John nodded.

"I'll see you later," he told her and Elizabeth gave him a small smile before he left. She returned to her office and the stack of paperwork she should have been doing when her thoughts had interrupted her. 

She was very proud of herself for lasting a whole half an hour before deciding enough was enough and going in search of John. Knowing he'd have been out of the infirmary long ago, she went straight to his room and despite how much time she spent in there she rang the door chime and waited for him to answer. 

He opened the door and the last strand of her self restraint vanished, without even a thought to passers by she reached for him, crashing her lips against his. His arms went around her automatically and somewhere she registered him pulling her into the room, out of view of the passers by she had so conveniently forgotten. 

Once the doors had closed behind them John moved one of his hands from her back to her neck, pulling her closer. She couldn't bring herself to break the kiss, even with her increasing need for oxygen but John soon did it for her, breaking the contact of their lips but not moving away from her. His hand smoothed back her hair and his eyes studied her for a moment.

"I missed you," he whispered softly.

"I missed you," Elizabeth returned immediately before John's lips descended onto hers again.

The words were simple and easy to say but the hidden admission in them was the exact opposite. They both knew it was true, both knew how they felt and that the other returned those feelings but neither was ready to say them out loud. There was no going back from that moment on though, yet another change to Elizabeth and her life here and another one she neither could nor wanted to reverse. 

It was insane and probably a really bad idea to continue pursuing this relationship - she was finally ready to admit that's what it was – but she really didn't care. The old Elizabeth would have, she would have come up with excuses and rationalisations and then promptly built a big, steel wall to keep John on the other side of. 

She was a different person, and she was glad.


End file.
